By Thornton Crowe
Last week, Salisbury Mayor Jake Day and County Executive Bob Culver met to discuss the Folk Festival and it's moments like these that we should remember when voting next November.
As we all know, they possess a rather contemptuous relationship so it's not hard to imagine the pow-wow was strained at best. It should come as no surprise that Day tried to railroad Culver by making some rather belligerent and provocative requests, given he formally "
divorced" the County less than a month ago.
Divorce is divorce unless...
Apparently, the Mayor expects the County Sheriff and Fire Stations to
volunteer for the festival of doom next September. Rather ironic considering Day's rendition of "
I can make it on my own" mentality when he told the County Executive last summer to take a hike! Now he turns around wanting favors... not wanting but
expecting favors! If that doesn't produce a deep belly-laugh in you, nothing will...
First, the Sheriffs can't volunteer because they're in a union (National Fraternal Order of Police) which prohibits volunteerism in the collective bargaining agreement. With special events like a three-day folk festival, it is not uncommon for police to garner overtime pay. Meaning their price tag doubles for such an event. Volunteering for such an event is out of the question!
Second, Day (and City Council) clamors over the fire department situation and then he has the bad manners to expect County fire people to volunteer? I thought the Mayor hated the volunteers so why is he seeking to create them? After all the rubbish we went through during the better half of the summer over fire stations and now he wants the County's stations to work for
free? If we want to work on a quid pro quo, how about the exorbitant amount the City charges the County every time they answer a call outside the city limits.
Day assumed Culver would acquiesce and give him free, free, and more free which, is rather presumptuous considering his widely publicized disdain for both Culver and the County - especially over the last few months.
Is it all Day's fault for making such assumptions?
In all fairness, no because Culver has let Day run roughshod over him for the past two years. For example, the minute the Executive discovered the City's squatting situation - i.e. not honoring their contractual amount for space at the Government Office Building - Day's Administration should've either been force to pay up or be evicted. To date, nothing has happened in spite of the City's large bills. Hence, it's only basic human instinct for Day to seize all opportunities to exploit everything he can from the County. In truth, it's Culver's continual capitulation that makes him complicit in the dysfunctional machinations.
What is the Mayor's fault is his disingenuous declarations of emancipation from Wicomico, only to turn around with hat in hand, asking for favors from which he rejected. Who, in their right mind, would go to an entity they publicly told to piss off and expect free favors? Children! While it may take a lot of gumption to do this, it shows our illustrious mayor has more balls than brains - not to mention a lack of good manners!
So there it is, folks, just another day in our local leadership's never-ending soap opera...
Editor Update: The article above this one is the original posting about the City's obligation for paying their share of expenses and rent for space at the GOB.
Day assumed Culver would acquiesce and give him free, free, and more free which, is rather presumptuous considering his widely publicized disdain for both Culver and the County - especially over the last few months.
